Spreading the good art word: Artist Trust at Large
Every once in a while, it's NOT who you know: it's WHAT you know. How can you find free money -- yes, FREE MONEY -- if you don't know it exists? And if you're friends with someone who needs money, how else are you going to keep us from mooching off you? (Kidding. Sort of.)
I can help with that! Starting in September, I'll be giving talks on artist resources and funding as an Artist Trust At Large speaker. We'll talk about:
- grants, fellowships and other awards -- basically, money that doesn't need to be repaid
- workshops on art business-related topics
- where to go for information like legal issues, emergency help and more
The Artist Trust At Large presentations will be in Seattle, Snohomish, Redmond, Bremerton, Tacoma and in two webinars. And these resources are for artists of all disciplines: visual artists, writers and other literary artists, film/media artists and performers of all kinds. More details as they develop!
New series: "Your Crown Has Been Bought & Paid For"
At one of my last exhibits, someone asked me what I was going to make next.
"Bought & Paid For" altered book series/ Lisa Myers Bulmash. Photo credit: Clear Image.
I responded I was considering creating work inspired by the following quote.
I've been thinking about the people who've suffered and even died so I could be where I am. I've had a fairly privileged life: loving family of origin, college graduate, married with children. And I'm profoundly grateful, but what sacrifices have been made for me. I could be paralyzed with guilt... or I could get on with making something of what I've been given.
I focused on coronas (which can mean "royal headgear" or "the light around the sun") and paired them with fragments of fake money. Then I layered transparencies of my brother as a child over painted-over images of shelter, fitting each pair into hand-torn book niches.
"Reconstruction"/ Lisa Myers Bulmash
This first piece is "Reconstruction." Yes, that's a slave auction house in the background. But notice the person leaning against the building is a black man with a rifle -- probably not an enslaved person. I assume the original (Library of Congress) photo was shot sometime after the Civil War, during the Reconstruction Era.
"2100 Miles Away"/ Lisa Myers Bulmash
The second piece, "2100 Miles Away", was inspired by a long-ago comment my grandmother made. She was happy to have her daughters both living on the East Coast, "a perfect distance to travel" in her opinion. But then we had to go and move to the West Coast... a distance which made my mother happier than my grandmother.
"Land's End"/ Lisa Myers Bulmash
The final piece points both to the past and the present. Compared to most of my relatives, I live in "land's end": the furthest northwest you can get and still live in a metro area of the contiguous United States. I don't know how much time I have left to see my older cousins again. It brings to mind superstitions about birds on the roof.
I designed these pieces to work as a triptych, so I'm hoping all three will be accepted to an upcoming exhibit. I better get on that submission process...
When your artwork is a pain to photograph
Hi, my name is Lisa, and my artwork is a nightmare to photograph.
BFAR staffer Amanda considers the challenges posed in photographing my art.
I know it's a pain. And I warn/remind the photography staff of it when I come in the door.
Bellevue Fine Art Reproduction generally needs three days to shoot my work. Not because they're too busy, although they are busy. It's because my work, like me, is complicated. The surfaces vary in depth, for one thing.
At least three different depths, just in this view of the work. But wait, there's more!
For another thing, my work features a lot of small details. On top of that, I also tend to incorporate shiny surfaces like transparencies, mica or glass. So the shoot has to be set up to reduce glare and unwanted reflections.
Reflective surface? Check. Multiple depths? Check. Photo shoot nightmare in 3... 2...
But sometimes glare or other issues can't be avoided, so there's the post-production editing.
BFAR's owner Scott somehow shoots & edits my multi-layered work without losing his mind.
Yes, I could shoot my own work, and I used to (results were okay). I could take classes, and I know of some good resources. But my priority right now is making more art; I'm the only one who can do that. I have the luxury, at the moment, of having someone else document my work. (No, I'm not being compensated in any way by Bellevue Fine Art Reproduction. I just like their results.)
The three pieces I brought in this time should be ready next week. Check back next Friday!